Professional Documents
Culture Documents
School of Management
Spring 2009
R 02:30-05:15 SOM 2.714
This introductory course in marketing will expose students to the fundamental concepts and applications of
modern marketing management. Students will gain an understanding of marketing’s strategic role in the
organization. Topics we will cover include marketing strategy, ethics, advertising, consumer behavior, product
development and management, pricing, e-commerce, segmentation, and retailing.
Course Material
Textbook: Kerin, Hartley, and Rudelius (2009), Marketing (Ninth Edition), Irwin McGraw-Hill
Course Format
Lectures, class discussions, project assignments, homework, quizzes and text reading will form the major learning
vehicle. The lectures are designed to reinforce and expand upon the material in the text. Discussions are aimed at
bringing new perspectives to the material in the text and fostering the application of text and lecture content to
marketing management situations. Each student is expected to prepare the assigned material, to attend class and to
actively participate in class discussions.
Grading
The grades for the course will be computed from the following components:
The final grade is calculated on the weighted value of all the components.
Exams: There will be three exams consisting of multiple choice and short answer questions. They will
cover all material discussed in class. The exams are closed book and closed notes. The midterm
exam in which you score higher will contribute 20% to your final grade and the other midterm
exam will contribute 15% to your final grade. The final exam will contribute 25% to you final
grade. The total contribution of the exams to your final grade is 60%.
Group Project: Your product development team (group of 4 to 6 people) is responsible for creating a marketing
plan for a real or imaginary new product or service. The audience for your marketing plan is a
group of venture capitalists (the class) and your goal is to get all of their investment. Each product
development team will have 15 – 20 minutes to present the marketing plan to the class. Groups
will rate each other’s plans and the best marketing plan will win a prize at the end of the semester
(see Appendix A for general guidelines).
Every member of the group should speak in the presentation. As the first step, each group will
prepare a proposal. The proposal should include a thorough analysis of the marketing environment
of your industry, and the current situation of your company to identify problems and opportunities.
You should give the problem statement and your proposed solution for the problem in the
proposal. A written marketing plan will be turned in from each group (one plan per group) on the
final day of presentations. The written presentation should be 8 - 10 pages in length, double-
spaced, 12 point font.
Use the first weeks of the semester to choose an exciting product (or service) for which you can
develop a creative marketing plan. You must turn in (in writing) your product/service selection on
February 12th. Review Appendix A of Chapter 2 in your textbook to become familiar with the
layout and purpose of a marketing plan. Keep in mind that you want a product with a distinctive
point of difference that will satisfy the needs of your potential customer.
At the end of the semester, each group member will rate the performance of him/herself and every
other group member on both the time (i.e., effort) and the quality of the work put into the project
(see Appendix B – Peer Evaluation Form).
Note that all relevant deadlines for group project are indicated in the course schedule.
Homework There will be up to ten homework assignments and quizzes consisting of short answer questions
and quizzes: or problems. They will cover all material discussed in class. Two of the lowest scoring
assignments will be dropped from the final grade calculation.
Class Each one of you is expected to contribute to class discussions. Please do your assigned readings
Participation: for the scheduled lecture days so that you are in a better position to ask questions and comment on
the material covered in class. This will make the learning process much more enjoyable for both
you and me! Attendance is a necessary but not sufficient condition for a good participation grade.
Credit will be given more on the basis of quality than quantity..
Class Policy
Feedback
If you have any question or concerns about the course content, teaching, grading; or if you have any suggestions
for improvement in the above area, please do not hesitate to discuss them with me.
Your written marketing plan should cover (but is not limited to) the following. Bold indicates most
important areas.
You will evaluate each other’s presentations with a form similar to the following:
Please fill out the following form to determine each person’s contribution. Rate yourself and each of your group
members on the following parameters:
Use the following 5-point scale for this purpose. Enter the number from this scale that you think most appropriately
describes each person’s contribution on the two parameters.
1 2 3 4 5
⎢____________⎢_____________⎢____________⎢____________⎢
Poor Excellent
Please make any comments that you have regarding this group on the back of this sheet. This is due with your final
exam.